My new room mate

Before I say anything else, I want to wish a Very Happy Anniversary to Missa and her dear hubby, Lee, who, as of today, have been married for... well, a long time. But not quite as long as I have. So somewhere around fifteen-y sixteen-ish.

Hi, my memory is crap!

I was Missa's matron of honor at her wedding, and anyone who has ever stood up at a wedding will appreciate this story of just how freaking cool my awesome BFF is:

When she was planning her wedding and asked me to stand up with her, I asked her what her colors were and what my dress might be like. She said, I don't know -- you're the only one standing up with me, so you pick out the dress you want to wear and that will be the color I use. There were a few caveats, of course -- no fuscia, etc. -- but considering that she knew my taste at the time, it wasn't really an issue. I found a simple, dark green cocktail dress in the JCPenney clearance catalog for 24.99, she loved it, and that settled it. And I officially had the best bridesmaid experience ever. Missa 'da bomb!!!

And now, while we're all feeling all these warm and fuzzy thoughts for Missa, let's throw a few in the direction of my awesome new roomie, Benny! Who's Benny, you ask? Why is he living with you? What sort of scandalous things are going on up there in Beer Town, anyway? Am I going to have to start filtering this blog, you wonder?

Never fear, dear friends! As I artfully communicated in my last post, I went to the greenhouse on Saturday. I went with a friend and had no intention of buying anything because my thumb is notoriously black and the thought of killing something I was attached to, even a plant, at this point makes me unbearably sad. But then I saw Benny. He called to me. "Hey, nice lady! I'm small and cute and springy and you can talk to me and not feel so crazy in your little apartment! And, really, with all those south-facing windows, not having a plant is a kind of a crime against the Planta kingdom." I swear, he really said all of that to me. But I took Benny home with me, so the men in white coats can't come get me because then I won't be able to take care of Benny anymore.

Yes! Stay away from me, social workers! I'm protected by... A PLANT!!!

My room mate, Benny, is cute, yet fierce.

Then I went to TJ Maxx, the home of all the stuff no one wanted to buy at other stores, and found a great little pot for $4. I think it matches the decor delightfully:


In case you're wondering, that is a ceramic fish in the upper left. A wonderfully effed up ceramic fish by a locally famous artist in my hometown. It's awesome, trust me. So is the terra cotta ball thingy in the lower right -- also by him. It jingles if you shake it. Such cool stuff I've been given over the years.

Now that there's a plant on that table, I shall start referring to it as my sculpture garden. And the men in white coats can just try to stop me.

_____

Bargain therapy

The semester is off to a rip-roarin' start, but I don't have much to report. I went to Walgreens on Tuesday to get some bandages (my heel is still popping open and is going to be a bi7ch to heal up) and got caught in the throes of a back-to-campus sale! Retail therapy will surely help me wee wound, no?

Buy one, get one half price -- and regular price was only 9.99 to start with! They could be crap, or they could be just fine:


1.5 qt. crock pot and 3 cup rice cooker ($14.98 for both) in their new habitat.

My labmate, Lihui, said she had purchased one of these rice cookers several years ago and used it every day for two years. If I can get anything close to that much use from it, I'll be thrilled.

I just made rice in it for the first time this morning and everything seems just peachy! Yay, bargains!

That's all, back to work!

_____

Playing catch-up

Hang on to yer hankies, kids, it's all happening. Everything I've promised to show and failed miserably to follow through on. So sit back, get comfy, and bask in the part of my life that doesn't involve sucking up protozoa through a teeny tiny tube.

First off, unfinished Snowflake Mondays business. Yesterday's flake is now blocked and stiffened.


I'm not happy with it, but it's my fault, not the design's. First of all, I switched from a commercial stiffener to a mixture of white glue and water and it just isn't very stiff. Many people swear by the white glue, but so far I'm not impressed. Also, if I do it again I will use bigger thread (this is #20). You should have seen it in the voodoo stage -- it was just a sea of pinheads. There was barely room for me to pin some parts. Oh well, live and learn. But I love the design. Thanks again, Judy!

The Zodiac is finished except for the zipper (which I haven't purchased yet) and embroidery. The I-cord isn't perfect, but I got so frustrated with it that I was happy when it turned out this well. Otherwise I might have thrown it across the room and given up. So, in the interest of my mental health I decided to let go a little, slip out of the perfectionist persona, and call any errors "artifacts of a lovingly hand-made item". Plus, the wonky bit is mostly in the back where I can't see it, so I can live in denial. :)


Oh! And I found the cutest little buttons that I think are perfect for it! Cute, cheerful and bright. Lurve them!



Now, I realize that my previous photo of my first sock was barely a start at all. It wasn't a sock, it was jut a little tube -- it could have been anything! But now -- now -- it can only be one thing...


That, kids, is a SOCK!! Still don't believe me? Would it help if I stuck a poorly pedicured foot in it? It would? Okay, then...


Yep, that's a sock alright. Whee!

Last Saturday, I went on a little outing. There's a yarn store called Ruhama's to the north, up in Whitefish Bay, that has a nice website and is, most importantly, just a couple of blocks from a bus stop. It's also only about six blocks from Bayshore Town Center, a big new outdoor mall. I decided to make a day of it.

I did remember to take my camera with me. But, did I remember to actually take any pictures during the day? Of course not! This is Sus! Sus is an idiot! When Sus is shopping, she becomes as a chimpanzee! "Oh, look! Shiny! Ooooh! No! Look there! Shinier!" The best laid plans become dim, distant memories swept over by a sea of pretty things that Sus does not, but possibly could, own. I swear I'm a walking advertisement for evolution. 'Cause there ain't nothin' intelligent 'bout this design.

Now, you would think, since it was my first stop and the idea was fresh in my mind, that I would at least remember to take some photos of the great selection at Ruhama's, and I did. Remember, that is. But, thought me, I won't just barge into this lovely little shop, run, I'm sure, by sweet ladies, and start randomly photographing their stuff. So, my great plan went, I would go in, look around, chat with the yarn store people, develop a bit of a rapport, then start randomly photographing their stuff. A fine plan, I'm sure. But then, then, I was distracted...

... by CLEARANCE YARN!! Stacks and stacks of bags of yarn offered for less than half price! Alpaca! Silk! Mohair! Merino! Cotton! It was everywhere! I was helpless -- completely, utterly helpless. I looked, I stroked, I dreamed, I selected, I did mental math, I purchased! All thoughts of grand plans flew straight out me wee noggin. I was able somehow, mostly by thoughts of eviction and sitting in the dark without internet access due to bill nonpayment, to keep my fiscal sanity. But I did a mighty fine job, methinks.

Now, this is serious yarn pr0n. You may want to avert your eyes. Some of you won't care a whit, but some of you will. And I do and, really, isn't that what's important? ;)

Dale of Norway's Stork 100% cotton fingering weight, color "5", a pale, pale green. Two balls, 390 yds total. Destined to become Breeze socks.



Rowan Classic Natural Silk Aran, 73% viscose, 15% silk, 12% linen, color 464 "Aero". Four balls, 284 yds total. Destiny undetermined.


Blue Sky Alpacas 100% Baby Alpaca Sport Weight. Five balls, 600 yds total. Destiny undetermined.


Whew! I may need a nap now. ;)

So, that's what I've been up to. Upcoming fun? Well, tonight it's Summerfest to see Weird Al, and next week I travel to Toronto for a week to visit a lab at York University to learn an immunocytochemistry technique. And I'm gonna try real, real hard with that picture takin' thang.

Really, I am!!

_____

Back in Beer Town

Why, hello there! It looks like you've done well while I've been gone! Love the hair. Been working out? You look great.

So I went down to Missouri and saw my boy! Yay! I had seen him for just a few hours in March but hadn't spent any real time with him since Christmas. I had a wonderful time. Mostly we just hung out and watched movies and ate out, but we did go to the wedding of my dear friend Ryan and had a blast. Now, you'll notice I have no actual picture of bride or the groom, but at least I tried. And someday I may even figure out how to use my camera sufficiently to get decent pictures of things that are more than three feet in front of me. Yes, that's right, I'm blaming the camera. That's just my way.

Gator and I at the reception:


My friend Amy was there:


I made fast friends with part of the Mardi Gras themed centerpiece:


I got to see my friend Nano who came from California to photograph the festivities (but he got a little break):


Other than the wedding, as I said before, Gator and I ate at our favorite local restaurant, George's. The owner is, conveniently, George -- an extremely outgoing Greek immigrant who, for some reason, loves my teeth and was glad to see me back in town. He posed with us for a pic:


Then we posed with our favorite waitress, Becky (not to be confused with blog buddy Becky):


While Gator and I watched several movies (Everything is Illuminated, Junebug, The Night Listener, Clerks II, Borat, American Splendor), I made a set of potholders for the biology department kitchen. Why we don't already have potholders, I'll never know, but now I can be sure that the ones we have are of the highest quality and are supremely attractive. Of course.



Gator's family all got together for Father's Day (of course, I don't have any pictures of that -- that would be too nice and make too much sense. I only sporadically take pictures that consist of fifty million silly shots taken in fifteen minutes then twelve hundred days of happenings with no photo record. It's my way.) I started the Zodiac pattern from the new Knitty for some friends who are expecting. I show pics of that tomorrow -- don't want to show you everything at once! You might suffer adverse effects from the excitment! Also, then I might not have anything to show you tomorrow. We must parse these things out, you know. Now you know my blog strategy. I feel so vulnerable.

After a tearful goodbye, I flew back to Beer Town. At the airport, I was distracted from my endless trek down the concourse by a clearance sale in an airport shop. A clearance sale at an airport shop! Things are truly bad when you're bargain huntin' the airport. Seriously. But! Cuteness! And usefulness! And clearance! A dangerous, dangerous combination, to be sure. The awesome polka dotted bag simply had to come home with me.


Isn't it cute? And useful? I'm such a fan.

So now I'm back and, after some recovery time, I'm back into the Beer Town routine. Or, rather, I'm making up my summertime Beer Town routine. Work at the lab, lay by the pool and knit, work out (yes, I said "work out". I claimed it was a new routine), clean, blog, knit some more (or crochet, whatever), try to keep up on the laundry, try to cook more, early to bed, early to rise, yadda, yadda, yadda. Soon there will be Brewer's games and myriad festivals to report on. It's an exciting time to be in Beer Town and I'm going to do everything I can.

But I'll probably forget to take pictures of anything good.

_____

The fun part of the weekend

Yesterday I intimated that only part of my holiday weekend was good. That's because I felt like crap on Sunday and most of yesterday. My sinuses are hatin'. But until that point, the weekend was going swimmingly.

On Friday I left the lab early, packed up some stuff, piled in friend Anne's car and we headed down to Chi-town. New Friend Veronica's brother was getting married and we had been recruited to bring one of their aunts down for the festivities. Said aunt ended up not going, so Anne and I headed off on our own eager to meet V's family (who all seem so fun and zany when she talks about them) and, to be completely honest, eager for a yummy wedding dinner and open bar. 'Cause we're not crazy.

Look how cute we are! That's me, Anne, and V! I don't always have that "deer in the headlights" look, though. I don't think.


There was dancing and chatting and a generally fabulous time was had by all! Yay Mr. and Mrs. V's Brother!!


The next day, after a yummy brunch at V's folks' house, Anne and I headed back towards WI. But not without stopping first at Cheap Home Furnishings Mecca:


I had never been to IKEA before and it was insane, kids. Crazy huge! Full of so many things I could instantly need desperately merely by laying my eyes upon them for the briefest of moments. I restrained myself though. Mostly, I got some gadgets to give as part of a wedding gift this summer. But I totally had to get this one cute thing. Well, two of them, because I decided only one wasn't going to be enough. But I'm only showing a picture of one. The other one is just like it, only lime green:


SO CUTE!!! Might... DIE!... from the... CUTENESS!!! Oh! But the best part! Yes! The puzzle pieces actually FIT INTO ONE ANOTHER!!!



Ahem. So, perhaps this unrestrained excitement over silicone ice cube trays caused me to rupture something, causing a headache, and ruining the rest of my weekend.

Nope, can't do it. Can't blame any amount of suffering on the cutest ice cube trays ever manufactured! Of course, I've never seen Hello Kitty ice cube trays...

Somebody STOP ME...

Cheap date

I actually had a snowflake last week. I just couldn't bear to show you, the pain was too new. But now that I have a successful flake,

#39 from Leisure Arts' 99 Snowflakes
I can stand to show you my failure. See, this is why I haven't been crocheting -- my concentration has been crap. Observe:


Yeah, I really feel a lot better about it now that I've gotten my groove back. But at the time I threw the dadgum thing across the room. Sigh. Oh well, onwards and upwards!

On Saturday, I went out in the afternoon with New Friend Veronica. We had yummy frozen custard at Oscars and shopped a bit. Okay, we shopped a lot. We've decided that there's no such thing as shopping a bit where we're concerned. I didn't buy much, but it sure was fun. But we happened upon a Menards so I begged to go in because I wanted to get...


...ceiling tiles!! Yay! 49 cents apiece! I'm so happy!

"But you rent, Sus, why would you provide your own ceiling tiles?" you might ask. Silly Rabbit! I use cheap ceiling tiles as blocking boards and they work really well. I have gone many years with only one ceiling tile to block with and lately it has become more and more of a pain in the caboose. I can stiffen a snowflake -or- block an afghan square (and only two of each of those at a time, if I really manage my space just right). But sometimes I have one thing ready to block before something else is dry and ready to remove from the board. I really don't want blocking to become my rate-limiting step because of a lack of 49-cent ceiling tiles. But now that I'm transportaionally challenged, it's difficult to get little things like this when the fancy strikes me. But sweet friend V is very tolerant. :)

Egads, it takes so very little to make me happy. I'm showing you a picture of three plain, white, cheap-ass ceiling tiles with absurd pride. I gots problems, kids.

_____

Materialism

What is it about finishing a stressful project that makes me want to buy things? I don't know either. Well, buy things and eat. But my glasses broke on Sunday and I have to conserve funds for eyewear replacement. So, after I did my presentation yesterday and barely finished the big, last-minute homework assignment, NFVeronica and I went to Target (after we went to IHOP -- food is most important after all). Thank god for the Dollar Spot:


I got to indulge in totally unnecessary shopping that inclued 0% guilt ($1 apiece!!) and 100% cuteness!! The Hello Kitty makeup bag I will totally use, the little tote (made from the same stuff they use to make disposable lab coats) is just right for carrying around some handwork, and I have no use whatsoever for the little plastic whistle!! But, cute!!

So then we went to the mall (V's going to England and Morocco next week -- she needed some stuff) and I found a much cuter version of something I actually needed.

Problem: Too many keys that are way too similar.

Solution: Those little colored plastic things that slip over the tops and color code your keys. Right? Right.

But!! I found the totally fabulous product Monkeys!!! OMG Cute!!!


Now, not only are my keys color-coded, they are expression-coded (the gray one is for the workout room in my building -- lol!!), cuter than bugs in rugs, and I have the Monchichi jingle on constant loop in my head. Excellent!!

$5 for six. Not bad. So, for $8, and the price of and omlette at IHOP, I had a very fulfilling post-stress shopping spree. I am well pleased with myself.

Oh, and I didn't buy this last night, but I hadn't shown you. Hey, Sweetie, this is what you got me for Valentine's Day. You have great taste. ;)



Eyewear shopping will not be anywhere near as fulfilling.

_____

Blizzard o' fun

This was the sky this morning, after last night's snowfall but before tonight's forecast blizzard conditions. A check of The Weather Channel shows SE WI to be in for 12+ inches tonight. A weekend to stay in and knit.



So far, this weekend has rocked. New Friend Veronica and I ate awesome Roly Poly wraps, we totally closed down yet another mall in the greater Milwaukee area, I found some perfume I really like (which is so difficult for me), I learned that there is a new Star
Wars novel out that I might actually want to read (even though I'll probably cringe through most of it -- but these are old, well developed issues of mine), and I found The Shoes.

They are orange! They are cute! They are all technology-y and stuff! They feel like nothing I've ever worn before, and they feel goooood!! I'm very psyched. They even come with a DVD to teach me how to wear them, they are so advanced!

So, remember when I got pretty origami paper? I still totally love it, but today I found a folded paper activity that caused me to set that pretty paper right to the side. That's right, kids, I printed out, cut out, folded, and glued together a Bald Britney Paper Doll. Oh, the joy. She had a total meltdown and I was rewarded with a new, free crafting experience! It's the simple pleasures, I tell ya.



Now to curl up in the glow of my shoes and Britney doll, watch the blizzard happen around me, listen to old re-runs of This American Life, and knit, knit, knit. I know you wish you had my life. I know it.

_____